The 75 and ZT Owners Club Forums - View Single Post - Recent cam belt change and comment on "cheap tooling"

Wicksie · 14th May 2022, 15:20

Just completed a cambelt change on my 75 auto and thought members might be interested in my findings.
Firstly, I have never done a floating cam 3 belt belt before so was very careful to research it properly, looked at all the info I could find before hand and bought a set of tooling on the Bay for the princely sum of £48
The tooling - in short it did the job but you get what you pay for, one of the spigot pins fell out after use and had to be locktighted back in, the tensioner retaining pin was non tensile wire and bowed during use and the secondary sprocket holding tool was bowed and made it quite hard to hold the two secondary sprockets together whilst tightening the bolts ( the exhaust cam locating dogs barely made contact on one side because of the bow)
These defects can all be sorted if I use it again but bear it in mind folks these cheap kits are of less than "professional quality" and you might need a hydraulic press to straighten the secondary sprocket tool, a substitute tensioner retainer and locktight to hold errant spigot pins in place.
To the actual belt change - it went quite well but two things stand out.
One - My car is an early one and it has the old type of oil cooler, I found it necessary to remove this, disconnecting the rear oil pipes and the coolant hoses, to access the A/C pump bolts.
Two - I think the old primary belt had been fitted wrongly. It was quite slack between the two sprockets,so much so that the water pump pully could be freely rotated against the belt. Anyway the new belt went on and with bolts tightened correctly and tensioner fitted, it manually rotated one tooth back on the rear sprocket marks that I had made as a precaution
The engine has now done about 100 miles and seems to have gained more torque, it changes up at noticeably lower revs and is as smooth as ever in cruise
Overall, the job is challenging, particularly in gaining access and the number of parts you need to remove but greatly satisfying when it stars an runs properly at the end.
PS. how experts such as Tom manage the job in a shift is beyond me - This old codger took over a week!

14th May 2022, 15:20	#1
Wicksie Newbie Rover 75 saloon Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Bracknell Posts: 20 Thanks: 0 Thanked 15 Times in 4 Posts	Recent cam belt change and comment on "cheap tooling" Just completed a cambelt change on my 75 auto and thought members might be interested in my findings. Firstly, I have never done a floating cam 3 belt belt before so was very careful to research it properly, looked at all the info I could find before hand and bought a set of tooling on the Bay for the princely sum of £48 The tooling - in short it did the job but you get what you pay for, one of the spigot pins fell out after use and had to be locktighted back in, the tensioner retaining pin was non tensile wire and bowed during use and the secondary sprocket holding tool was bowed and made it quite hard to hold the two secondary sprockets together whilst tightening the bolts ( the exhaust cam locating dogs barely made contact on one side because of the bow) These defects can all be sorted if I use it again but bear it in mind folks these cheap kits are of less than "professional quality" and you might need a hydraulic press to straighten the secondary sprocket tool, a substitute tensioner retainer and locktight to hold errant spigot pins in place. To the actual belt change - it went quite well but two things stand out. One - My car is an early one and it has the old type of oil cooler, I found it necessary to remove this, disconnecting the rear oil pipes and the coolant hoses, to access the A/C pump bolts. Two - I think the old primary belt had been fitted wrongly. It was quite slack between the two sprockets,so much so that the water pump pully could be freely rotated against the belt. Anyway the new belt went on and with bolts tightened correctly and tensioner fitted, it manually rotated one tooth back on the rear sprocket marks that I had made as a precaution The engine has now done about 100 miles and seems to have gained more torque, it changes up at noticeably lower revs and is as smooth as ever in cruise Overall, the job is challenging, particularly in gaining access and the number of parts you need to remove but greatly satisfying when it stars an runs properly at the end. PS. how experts such as Tom manage the job in a shift is beyond me - This old codger took over a week!